The present invention generally relates to improvements in fiber processing, and more specifically to improvements in methods and apparatus for washing cellulose pulp fibers to be used in the manufacture of paper.
When wood is chemically processed to obtain cellulose pulp fibers for papermaking, the process includes cooking or digesting wood chips with various pulping liquors so that the resins and materials binding the cellulose fibers together are dissolved in the pulping liquor, thereby liberating the fibers. The result is a slurry of fibers suspended in a liquid of spent chemicals or liquor. To further prepare the pulp for papermaking, the fibers must be separated from the liquid, the liquid removed and the fibers washed to remove what chemicals remain with the fiber.